Going beyond the headlines to give fans an exclusive look at the Seattle Mariners

Today’s print and online edition of The Seattle Times features Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez. Be sure to pick up a copy of the Sunday Times or visit their website for stories by beat writer Ryan Divish and columnist Larry Stone.

Felix Hernandez will face off against fellow Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia tonight at Yankee Stadium (4:05 pm PT/7:05 pm ET). Felix has been fabulous in five career starts at the new Yankee Stadium, going 4-1 with a 1.31 ERA and a pair of 2-hit shutouts. Greg Bishop, a former writer for the Seattle Times, wrote a nice feature on Felix for this morning’s edition of The New York Times.

Since the Seattle Mariners hired Jack Zduriencik as G.M. before the 2009 season, the former scout has taken a patient approach to building a potential winner. In this week’s Sports Illustrated, writer Ben Reiter profiles the team that could become baseball’s next juggernaut.

Be sure to pick up a copy of the current edition of Sports Illustrated to check out the great story on the Mariners.

“That’s probably the best start I’ve seen as a manager,” said Eric Wedge. “In a 1-0 ballgame, he knows one pitch can be the ballgame. That was just special stuff to watch today. What you saw today, you’re not going to see anything better than that.”

“The thing was, he was never in any bad counts, really. I think he had one or two walks,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “You look, he threw about a ball a hitter, so he was never in any bad counts.”

“He was better than us,” said Yankees captain Derek Jeter. “That’s pretty much all you can say.”

Recorded his 3rd shutout this season to tie Brandon Morrow for the MLB lead.

With Felix’s third shutout this season (also: 6/28 vs. BOS & 7/14 vs. TEX) became the 10th Mariner in club history to record 3+ shutouts in a season (Johnson-3, Langston-2, Vargas, Garcia, Moyer, Fleming, Holman, Moore, Bannister)…7th career shutout tying Floyd Bannister for 4th all-time in club history.

Recorded his 5th career win in a 1-0 game setting the club record (Randy Johnson 2nd with 4 W)…2nd CG shutout in 1-0 game, both this season.

Is 5-2 with a 2.06 ERA (12 ER, 52.1 IP) in 7 starts vs. Yankees in New York, including 4-1, 1.13 (5 ER, 39.2 IP) with 2 shutouts at the new Yankee Stadium.

Is 6-0 with a 1.41 ERA (12 ER, 76.1 IP), 3 shutouts, 75 strikeouts, 14 walks, only 1 HR allowed and a .195 opp avg (53×272) over his last 10 starts (since 6/17). Lowered season ERA from 3.70 to 2.63 during stretch.

Was Felix’s 9th start this season with at least 8.0 innings pitched while allowing 1 or fewer runs (next closest are Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey with 5)…Felix had 13 such starts during his Cy Young season in 2010.

And how rare of a loss like this was it for the Yankees in their historic home stadium?

Just the 9th time in live ball era (since 1918) the Yankees have lost 1-0 at home with 2 or fewer hits and 1st time since June 1, 1978 (Jim Palmer 2-hit shutout).

Just the 2nd time in the past 50 years the Yankees have lost 1-0 at home with 2 or fewer hits.

Only the 2nd time to be shutout 1-0 in their new ballpark (298th game, last: 6/13/11 vs. CLE), and 10th time overall to be shutout in the new Yankee Stadium

Here are a bunch of quotes of what was said about the 13-strikeout performance by Felix Hernandezlast night:

“Tonight is as good as I’ve ever seen him. Against a lot of veteran hitters, a lot of good hitters, and a 0-0 ballgame like that, you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

– Mariners Manager Eric Wedge

“I wanted to do it so bad for him. He pitched his tail end off. We came through with some big plays for him, but that was an unbelievable performance to watch.”

– Mariners left fielder Casper Wells

“That’s the best we’ve seen. He was unreal. His stuff was moving all over the place. He kept the ball out of the middle of the plate. He was pretty special tonight.”

– Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia

“He was King Felix. He was as good as I’ve ever seen.”

– Boston right fielder Cody Ross

“He pitched extremely, extremely well. Aggressive in the strike zone, consistent with all three pitches, throwing them anytime in the count. In and out, up and down, it was some pretty good stuff. It’s what you teach.”

– Bobby Valentine, Boston manager

“That wasn’t human, man.”

– Boston designated hitter David Ortiz

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the American League. But I didn’t think about him. I thought I would just pitch my game. I just tried to make my pitches. King Felix threw very good tonight. That’s the game, man.”

– Boston starting pitcher Franklin Morales

“This year, this is the best game that I’ve thrown. I was throwing a lot of strikes and all the pitches were working.”

– Felix Hernandez

“I felt pretty good today. All my pitches were working, I was down in the zone, I was throwing strikes. That’s me right there. That was the best game I’ve thrown this year.”

– Felix Hernandez

“I’m throwing more strikes. I was getting ahead of hitters and mixing in breaking balls. The fastball has more life right now, so I feel pretty good.”

– Felix Hernandez

“Unbelievable. That’s my best game this year, and the guys played great defense behind me. We needed that win. We needed it.”

– Felix Hernandez

“I felt great, I had could life on my fastball, my breaking pitch was sharp, my changeup was good. All my pitches were working.”

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